Motion controlling apparatus



March 17, 1942. R. E. ZENNER 2,276,754

MOTION CONTROLLING APPARATUS Filed Nov. 13-, 1939 FIG.

INVENTOR. RAYMOND E. ZENNER TORNEY.

Patented Mar. 17, 1942 2,27 6,754 MOTION CONTROLLING APPARATUS Raymond E. Zenner, Brookfield, IlL, assignor to Teletype Corporation, Chicago, 111., .a corporation of Delaware Application November 13, 1939, Serial No. 304,059

(01. ire-27 13 Claims.

This invention relates to printing telegraph apparatus and particularly to page printers having the typing elements mounted on a carriage which travels across the page for printing mes sage material in lines.

In printers of the kind described above, the carriage is moved step-by-step for character spacing by power driven means, and is returned to 'a beginning-of-line position by a rapid motion imparted by a spring which is wound or tensioned as the carriage is moved printing successive characters.

An object of the invention is to counteract inertia efiects of movable elements on the carriage developed incident to the return of the carriage to the beginning-of-line position and arrestment at that position.

Patent 1,904,164 granted April 18, 1933, to S. Morton et al., shows a printing telegraph receiving device well adapted to accommodate and be improved by the addition thereto of apparatus according to the present invention. The printer shown therein is a type and return to beginning-f-l1ne position. Permutation code bars, which effect the selection of the type bars for actuation, are slidably supported by the carriage and the longitudinal disposition of these bars is in the direction of travel of the carriage. The carriage is advanced step-by-step for character spacing by a rack and pinion mechaconnected to the carriage by a flexible link, and the carriage is arrested by a dashpot controlled yieldable stop lever. The return of the carriage selective position due to inertia, and may possibly move to such other selective position. Also, any of the permutation code bars which occupy limit positions upon the carriage in the direction of return movement may resist effort of the receiving selector mechanism to shift them to their opposite limit position.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, pivoted counterbalance members are added to the carriage at the end toward which the code bars may tend to shift as the carriage is arrested, and these counterbalance members then be attempting to move any of them in that Alternatively, the counterbalance members may be so weighted as to counterbalance exactly the forces acting upon the code bars due to inertia, thereby rendering the code bars as free upon the permutation code bar.

For a complete understanding of the present invention, reference may be had to the following detailed description which refers to the accompanying drawing wherein:

Fig. 1 is a front elevational view of the type bar and particularly I designates the patent in parallelism with the platen of the printer. Rails ll support a type bar carriage I2 by means of rollers l3 revolubly supported on axle studs l4 secured to the car- Carriage I2 pivotally supports type bars [6 to each of which is articulated a combined selector and pull bar l7. Type bars l6 normally arrest against backstop l3.

The type bars l6 and selectable pull bars H are disposed in arcuate arrangement and the carriage |2 slidably supports upon studs l9 a set of notched permutation code bars 2| which are conformed to the arcuate alignment of the selectable pull bars l1. Apertures (not shown) in the code bar 2|, through which studs l9 extend, are elongated so that the bars 2| may be moved endwise back and forth from one to the other of two possible positions. The permutational notching of the code bars 2| is such that for each permutational setting of the bars, not more than one of the selectable pull bars l1 finds presented to it an alignment of notches which it may enter.

Near its opposite ends, carriage I2 is provided with depending arms 22, one of which is short and the other is relatively long, the arms 22 hav ing integral therewith at their free ends a connecting bar 23 which extends obliquely with respect to the bars H which support carriage |2. An arm 24 also integral with the long arm 22 at its free end extends leftwardly substantially parallel with rail H.

The obliquely extending bar 23 pivotally supports a plurality of code bar operating bell cranks 26 which are equal in number to the number of code bars 2| and which have the free ends of their upwardly extending arms articulated individually to the code bars. Horizontally extending arms of the bell cranks 26 have their free ends bifurcated and fitted over the outer edges of individual pivoted selector vanes 21 so that the horizontally extending arms of bell cranks 26 may move along and remain in engagement with selector vanes 21 as carriage |2 travels to and fro upon rail H, and bell cranks 26 may be rocked as selector vanes 21 are controlled by the receiving selector mechanism of the printer in the manner fully disclosed in the hereinbefore identified patent. When bell cranks 26 are rocked clockwise or counterclockwise by selector vanes 21, they impart rightward or leftward movement to the permutation code bars 2 I, thus positioning them permutatively for the selection of individual selectable pull bars H. A retaining bar 28 extends from the lower end of the shorter of the two arms 22 to the free end of arm 24 and confines the horizontally extending arms of bell cranks 26 so that they shall remain in engagement with selector vanes 21.

As shown in Fig cranks 26, each being connected to one of the selector vanes 21 and also to one of the permutation code bars 2|. It follows from this that the particular printer shown in Fig. 1 has six code bars 2| and operates on a six-unit code. In the printer shown in the hereinbefore identified patent, there are five of these bell cranks which in- 1, there are six of the bell I dicate that the printer operates on a five-unit code and is provided with five selecting code bars. The number of bell cranks 26 and code bars 2| provided in a printer depends upon the number of selective possibilities for which provision must be made. The present invention is applicable to printers operating on a five-unit code, as exemplified in the Morton et al, patent, or in a printer operating upon a six-unit code, as exemplified in Fig. 1, but the need of the invention may be greater in the case of a six-unit printer than of a five-unit printer, as will be set forth herelnafter.

At the left-hand side of the printer, 2. fixed post 3| supports a bracket 32 on which is pivoted a stop lever 33 for the carriage l2. The carriage supports an adjustable abutment screw 34 in aligmnent with the foremost end of arm 33. As

, in Fig. l, to return to carriage |2 moves leftwardly and approaches its beginning-of-line position, screw 34 engages the foremost end of lever 33 and moves it leftwardly. As fully disclosed in the hereinbefore identified patent, the rearmost end of stop lever 33 is connected to the plunger of a dashpot which establishes a limit for the leftward movement of carriage |2 by limiting the rocking movement imparted to lever 33, and which cushions the operation of lever 33 in arresting carriage |2.

At the left-hand side of carriage l2, a bracket 36 is secured to the carriage by mounting screws 31 which pass through horizontally extending elongated slots 38 (Fig. 2). Bracket 36 has secured thereto a pivot stud 39, an anchoring stud 4|, and a backstop stud 42. Pivot stud 39 pivotally supports a plurality of counterbalance members 43 between each two of which is a spacer plate 44 jointly supported by pivot stud 39 and anchoring stud 4|, so that the spacer plates 44 cannot rotate. Between the innermost counterbalance member 43, and the bracket 36, is an inner retaining plate 46 and similarly between the outermost or foremost of the counterbalance members 43 and the head 41 of pivot stud 49 is a retainer plate 48 (Fig. 1), the plates 46 and 48 being similar to the spacer plate 44 and similarly anchored upon stud 4|.

The spacing of counterbalance members 43 on stud 39 is the same as the spacing of code bars 2| and the slots 38 permit bracket 36 to be adjusted so as to align counterbalance members 43 with the code bars 2|. Each of the counterbalance members 43 has at its upper end a projection 49 presented in close proximity to the left-hand end of the code bar 2| with which it is aligned. The projections 49 are so positioned and dimensioned that when the counterbalance members 43 are suspended motionless in engagement with backstop stud 42, the projections 49 will not engage the ends of code bars 2| whether those bars are presented in their extreme lefthand or right-hand selective positions.

When carriage |2 moves leftwardly, as viewed the beginning-of-line position, the counterbalance members 43 engage backstop stud 42 and, therefore, their projections 49 are held clear of code bars 2|. The velocity of carriage l2 as its abutment screw 34 engages dashpot controlled lever 33 may be relatively high, and the arrestment of the carriage by yielding lever 33 may subject the code bars 2| to forces generated by the inertia of the bars and tending to move them leftwardly, as viewed in Fig. 1. At the same time that the forces are generated in code bars 2|, forces are also generated in the counterbalance members 43 causing them to pivot clockwise, as viewed in Fig. 1, about pivot stud 39, and causing their projections 49 to engage or seek engagement with the left-hand ends of code bars 2|.

The counterbalancing of code bars 2| by counterbalance members 43 may be arranged to satisiy various conditions. For example, it may be desired to cause counterbalance members 43 to exert upon all of the code bars 2| considerably greater force than that which tends to move the code bars 2| leftwardly. This may be accomplished by weighting the counterbalance members 43 rather heavily at their lower ends and by having the ends of projection 49 very close to the ends of the code bars 2| when those bars are presented in their left-hand position, so that each code bar shall be positively and firmly engaged by its counterbalance member 43'. With this arrangement, movement of the code bars terclockwise. These forces may supplement those 2| by any forces which might be exerted upon developed in the code bars themselves, and may them, such as, by their own inertia or by the necessitate counterweighting the code bars more would be prevented. 5 inertia effects of the code bars alone.

It may, under some circumstances, be fo d It shouldbe noted in connectlon with strucdesirable to weight the counterbalance members llles requlrlng merely the eXact oun ba anc- 2| leftwardly' It may be ascertained by ref ronce due to inertia efiects, that only certain completed one selective cycle, and While the be under the direct influence of the receiving rinter is operating in accordance with the sigselector: mechamsn? f the tlme f arrestment al received during that selective cycle, whether of Thls 15 because of that the operation involves the printing of a charealjly lmpulses of code Cmb matmn acter, spacing of the carriage, o th perfo m celved 1n overlap relation to the carriage return of a function, such as carriage return, the function would be received before the release of ceivmg selector mechanism may be released for Qarnage for rilturn o I s beglnnlng-of-lme the reception of the next signal combination and posltlon or before It i traveled any great may operate to set up in itself the selective contance- Where the carFlage ave s through only the receiving selector mechanism. The use of couqterbaggncmg mlght be g i m t such locks is predicated upon the fact that printnectlon W1 h those code bars Whlch e recelvmg selector mechanism might be trying to shift to l Operations and most of t functmn operatheir rlght-hand positions after the carriage had f f known and lpvanable time for traveled a suificient distance to develop inertia their accomplishment Carriage return funcation, and it might, therefore, be necessary to carriage 1s a variable, dependin upon the distance through which the carriage must travel counterbalance only one or two of Code bars g g gg gg g fi gf $5 3 ,3 g fig Egg 40 mechanism might be attempting to set at a time be greater in the case of the printer operatin code bars through the Selector vanes 27 and on the six-unit code, because six selective con bell cranks MWement FP 0f the code ditions must be established instead of five, a bars 2i to their left-hand position piesents no 63. Lock lever 62 has lock bar 64 at the u er 2|, the inertia members 43 may be so weighted W pp l which is aligned with the lock bar when the carnage 1s S at y. code bar is in the other of its selective positions.

In cOnnectlOn with the weighting of the coun- Lock lever 62 is normally held out of engageterbalances, it should be noted that other ele- 9 urged lntO retaining engagement with 10111 1| 2 a e movab e pivotally 1n the direction of moveof lock lever 62 by tension spring 12. ment of the carriage, and are subjected to forces he front rail H has extending forwardly portion engaged by rollers 13, pins 13 and 14. Pin 14 is short enough to permit the lower end of lock lever 62 to pass in front of its free end as the carriage l2 travels rightwardly for character spacing, or leftwardly for character return. Pin 14 is, however, disposed in the path of a depending arm 16 pivoted to latch 61 at 11 and having a stop lug 18 engageable with the right-hand side of latch 61 for causing arm 16 to impart counterclockwise movement to latch 61 when arm 16 engages pin 14 upon approaching the pin from the right, which is the direction of approach when carriage I2 is returning to the beginning-of-line position. When arm 16 engages pin 14 upon approaching from the left, it yields and rocks idly in clockwise direction with respect, to latch 61, the lug 18 moving out of engagement with the left-hand side of latch 61 until arm 16 has cleared pin 14, whereupon arm 16 returns to the position with respect to latch 61 shown in Fig. 3. Pin 13 is of sufficient length to extend into the path of the lower end of lock lever 62 so that when the lock lever engages pin 13 as carriage 12 travels leftwardly, counterclockwise movement with respect to carriage l2 will be imparted to lock lever 62 to withdraw its locking bar 64 out of the notches 66 of cod bars 2|.

Pin 14 is so positioned on rail II that it becomes engaged by arm 16 of latch 61 about the time that abutment screw 34 of carriage l2 comes into engagement with yieldable stop arm 33, and upon engagement of arm 16 with pin 14 continued movement of carriag l2 leftwardly causes. latch 61 to pivot counterclockwise and to become disengaged from-pin 1| of lock lever 62. Lever 62 thereupon responds to its tension spring 63 and its locking bar 64 enters one or the other of the two notches 66 in each code bar 12 to lock them against movement. By virtue of the counterclockwise pivotal movement of latch 61, its depending pivoted arm 16 is enabled to pass over the top of pin 14 and spring 12 attempts to restore latch 61 to the position shown in Fig. 3, but pin 1| is then outside the shoulder of hooked end 69 of latch 61 is so positioned on rail arrestment of carriage I2 is completed, pin 13 will be engaged by the lower end of lock lever 62 and sufiicient counterclockwise movement will be imparted to lock lever movement of carriag l2 to withdraw locking bar 64 from engagement with the notches 66 and to relatch pin 1| shoulder of the hooked end 69 of latch 61. Thus, the code bars will have been positively locked against movement by the receiving selector mechanism, or due to inertia, just before the operation of arresting the carriage begins, and they will be unlocked just before the carriage becomes fully arrested. When carriage 12 moves rightwardly for character spacing, depending pivoted arm 16 of latch 61 passes over the top of pin 14 by rocking idly without imparting any movement to latch 61 and returns to the position shown in Fig. 3 prepared to operate latch 61 to unlatch locking lever 62 upon the next carriage return movement of the carriage l2.

Although specific embodiments of the invention have been described in the foregoing specification and shown in the accompanying drawing, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to such specific embodiments but is capable of modification and rearrangement without departing from the spirit of the inven- II that just before the and blocks latch 61. Pin 13 62 due to the leftward of lock lever 62 behind the tion and within the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a printing telegraph apparatus, a type bar carriage movable for character spacing and returnable to a beginning-of-line position, a plurality of type bar selecting code bars extending in the direction of movement of said carriage and slidably supported thereby, means for arresting said carriage at the beginning-of-line position, and means including an element cooperating with said code bars for preventing movement of said code bars due to their inertia as said carriage is arrested.

2. In a printing telegraph apparatus, a type bar carriage movable for character spacing and returnable to a beginning-of-line position, a plurality of type bar selecting code bars extending in the direction of movement of said carriage and slidably supported thereby, means for arresting said carriage at the beginning-of-line position, and means including a yieldably mounted element co-operating with said code bars for resisting movement thereof relative to said carriage due to their inertia as said carriage is arrested.

3. In a printing telegraph apparatus, a typing carriage movable for character spacing and returnable to a beginning-of-line position, a plurality of selector bars slidable endwise upon said carriage in the direction of movement thereof, means for selectively positioning said bars, means for arresting said carriage at the beginning-ofline position, and means including a pivotally mounted element co-operating with said selector bars for opposing movement thereof relative to said carriage due to their inertia as said carriage is arrested while permitting said bars to be moved by said positioning means.

4. In a printing telegraph apparatus, a typing carriage movable for character spacing and returnable to a beginning-of-line position, a plurality of selector bars slidable endwise upon said carriage in the direction of movement thereof, means for arresting said carriage at the beginning-of-line position, and means operable by inertia as said carriage is arrested for engaging said selector bars and opposing movement thereof relative to said carriage due to their inertia.

5. In a printing telegraph apparatus, a typing carriage movable for character spacing and returnable to a beginning-of-line position, a plurality of selector bars slidable endwise upon said carriage in the direction of movement thereof, means for arresting said carriage at the beginning-of-line position, and means individually engageable with each of said bars by inertia as said carriage is arrested for opposing movement of said bars relative to the carriage due to the inertia of said bars.

6. In a printing telegraph apparatus, a typing carriage movable for character spacing and returnable to a beginning-of-line position, a plurality of selector bars slidable endwise upon said carriage in the direction of movement thereof, means for moving said bars upon said carriage including portions mounted on said carriage and movable in the same direction as said bars, means for arresting said carriage at the beginning-ofline position, and means operable by inertia as said carriage is arrested for counter-balancing inertia of said bars and the portions of said bar moving means movable in the same direction as said bars.

'1. In a printing telegraph apparatus, a typing carriage movable for character spacing and returnable to a beginning-of-line rality of selector bars slidable endwise upon said gageable with an end of each of said bars as said carriage is arrested for counter-balancing inertia of said bars.

8. In a printing telegraph apparatus, a typing carriage movable for character spacing and returnable to a beginning-of-line position, a plurality of selector bars slidable endwise upon said of movement thereof for line position, means rendered effective just before said carriage arrives at said beginning-ofline position for locking said bars against movement due to inertia, and means elfective as said carriage reaches said position for disabling said locking means.

10. In a telegraph apparatus, a typing carriage movable for character spacing and returnable to a beginning-of-line position, a plurality of selector bars slidable endwise upon said carbar beginning-of-line position for re-engaging said locking means with said holding means.

11. In a printing telegraph apparatus, a typing spacing and recarriage movable for character turnable to a beginning-of-line position, a plu- With said holding means.

12. In a printing telegraph apparatus, a type 13. In a printing telegraph apparatus, a type bar carriage movable for character spacing and beginning-of-line position, a plu- RAYMOND E. ZENNER.

re-engaging said locking means 

